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TO THE 

PEOPLE OF MASSACHUSETTS. 



1 



. Ai ^7 






ADDRESS 



Wi)t people 



COMMONWEALTH of MASSACHUSETTS, 



FELLOW CITIZENS, 

THE Legislature of Massachusetts have found 
themselves impelled by the existing crisis, and by the 
importunity of a large portion of their constituents, 
to depart from the sphere of their ordinary duties, 
and to bestow their serious consideration upon sub- 
jects which belong to the constitutional jurisdiction 
of the National Government. In this course, which 
they have with great reluctance thought necessary 
to adopt, they have not been unmindful of the rights 
and powers of that Government, nor of the dangers 
incident to an habitual interference of the State 
Legislatures in the great concerns of the Nation. 
They are deeply impressed with the importance of 
supporting that Government as the bond of an 
union, which experience has shewn to be capable 
of producing the highest measure of national felicity. 
They are aware of the embarrassment which may 
be created in times of peculiar public excitement, bv 



4 

unreasonable expressions of discontent by individual 
States. And they readily concede, that a Govern- 
ment depending upon the confidence of the People 
to be enabled to do right, must have the power 
sometimes to do wrong ; and that a sincere appro- 
bation of wise measures, should be accompanied by 
a magnanimous indulgence for the errors which are 
incident to human nature. When the National 
Administration ceases to possess the confidence of 
the People, it will lose confidence in itself ; and from 
the want of this will always follow a deficiency of 
energy and stability indispensable to its success. 

A system of measures especially respecting nego- 
ciations with foreign nations, must not be assailed by 
the rash and petulant opposition of a particular State, 
before its object and bearings are discovered. If a 
Legislature, yielding its dignity to the suggestions 
of impatience and discontent, proceeding from par- 
tial and interested sources, will undertake to decide 
upon questions exclusively of national cognizance, 
disturbance and confusion must ensue, both in the 
General and State Governments ; and such conflicts, 
when they become frequent, can terminate only in 
a dissolution of the Union. 

It is with a solemn apprehension and dread of this 
deplorable event, and with a most anxious solicitude 
to avoid any precedent which may however re- 
motely tend to produce it, that the Legislature of 
Massachusetts have been influenced in all their de- 
liberations. The caution and forbearance v.'hich arc 
naturally imposed by these considerations, w(mld 
have restrained them under circumstances not abso- 
lutely Imperious, from expressing their opinion upon 
the measures of our National Rulers. They would 
have endured great sacrifices of interest ; they would 
have acquiesced in great violence to their own views 
of national policy ; they would have concealed their 
fears and suppressed their indignation, if the calam- 
itv in which the countrv is wantonlv involved did" 



not threaten absolute ruin in its consequence?, and 
forbid delay in the expression of their feelings. But 
they have been compelled to inquire for tlieniselves, 
what can be done, when the whole community 
which they represent deems itself oppressed, and its 
local and permanent interests forever endangered ; 
when the Administration, through pride of system, 
from a misapprehension of the interests of the coun- 
try, or under the influence of a hostile disposition 
towards one nation, or undue partiality to another, 
adopts and deliberately adheres to an infatuated pol- 
icy, which arrests all the occupations and disturbs 
all the relations of society, and, by sapping the foun- 
dations of individual prosperity, drives a whole Peo- 
ple to despair ? 

In this extremity the Legislature has endeavoured 
to conform to unexpected circumstances, and to the 
claims of their constituents upon their affections and 
duty. Endeavouring to divest themselves of pas- 
sions and prejudices ; protesting in the sight of God 
the sincerity of their attachment to the union of the 
States, and their determination to cherish and pre- 
serve it at every hazard, until it shall fail to secure 
to them those blessings which alone give value to 
any form of government ; and, confident that under 
a wise administration it will always be adequate to 
this object ; they have arraigned the measures of our 
National Rulers, not with a spirit of animosity, or 
a desire to expose them to obloquy and disgrace, 
but with a single view to stop their career in a 
course of measures to which it is physically as well 
as morally impossible for the People of this Com- 
monwealth much longer to submit. The most im- 
portant results of legislative deliberation upon these 
subjects, will appear in two Reports of a Committee 
of the House of Representatives, in another Report 
of a joint Committee, and in a Remonstrance to 
('ongress ; all of which are laid before the public. 
A candid examination of these documents will prob- 



ably satisfy our constituents that less could not be 
done consistently with the claims of our fellow-citi- 
zens, nor more without authorizing a forcible re- 
sistance to Acts of Congress ; an ultimate resource, 
so deeply to be deprecated, that the cases which 
might justify it should not be trusted even to the 
imagination, until they actually happen. 

While the Legislature insist upon their right, in 
common with all other lawful assemblies of their 
fellow-citizens, to express their opinion of public 
measures, and feel it to be their peculiar duty, as 
the immediate guardians of the rights of their con- 
stituents, to warn them of all unconstitutional acts 
and usurpations of the National Government ; and 
while they at the same time readily acknowledge 
the expediency of exercising this right ought to be 
restricted to cases of great national emergency, it is 
but justice to themselves to demonstrate that the 
present state of this Commonwealth is within this 
obvious exception. 

. The towns which have already presented petitions 
to the Legislature in their corporate capacity in-- 
elude nearly one third part of the taxable property 
of the Commonwealth, and many of them are 
towns which, at the commencement of the political 
year, were the supporters of the present Adminis- 
tration and are now represented by its friends. 
To this number must be added those who have not 
petitioned, but whose Representatives, with a full 
knowledge of the wishes of their constituents, have 
concurred in the measures of the Legislature j and the 
minorities in other towns which still adhere to the 
Administration. Thus it is certain that an immense 
majority of the people of Massachusetts, may be 
considered as before the Legislature, describing the 
miseries and grievances of their situation, and re- 
quiring their interposition to obtain relief. 

The language of the petitions from vai"ious quar- 
ters, and from all classes of the people, exhibits an 



uiFecting picture of the public distress. The Mer- 
chant on the sea-coast has abandoned his enter- 
prizes, and the Trader in the country has lost his 
customers, his debts and his credits. The Ship- 
owner beholds the silent and certain ruin of prop- 
erty, sufiicient to carry en the principal trade of the 
world. The work-shop of the Mechanic is desert- 
ed, and the Ship- Builder is without employment. 
The produce of the Farmer has fallen in value ; 
while all the articles for which he depends on for- 
eign nations, hav6 risen to a price which places 
them beyond his reach ; and this misfortune will 
now be aggravated by an unprecedented addition 
of duties. The creditor from necessity presses on 
his debtor, and the debtor beholds his property 
sacrificed at half its value. 

All these accumulated evils have been more par- 
ticularly felt in the eastern part of the Common- 
wealth, where, by the annihilation of foreign com- 
merce, and the oppressive restrictions on the coast- 
ing trade, a hardy People, who enjoyed competence 
and looked forward to affluence, have been involved 
in the deepest and most aggravating distress, while 
their lumber is left to rot on the banks of their 
rivers. 

These existing evils are greatly aggravated by a 
prospect of the future. The habits of the world 
change and conform to circumstances. The nations 
that have hitherto been dependent on us for any 
portion of the necessaries of life, have learned that 
no dependence can be placed on supplies from a 
People whose experiments or prejudices may at any 
moment make them their victims. They have 
learned a secret highly injurious to us, that our 
* commerce is not essential to their permanent wel- 
fare, and that nature has furnished them with ad- 
vantages, which will enable them to diNpense with 
all such of our exports as they have liitherto con- 
sidered of the first necessity. Hence if this system 



IS longer continued, when the liberty of the seu 
shall at last be restored to us, we shall find ourselves 
mere vagrants on the ocean, and excluded from 
ports of whose commerce we once enjoyed the mo- 
nopoly. The old channels of trade wiU be crowd- 
ed with the ships of other nations ; foreign marts 
will be supplied by the produce of theii* own fields 
and fisheries, and foreigners will be their own car- 
riers. Even France, grown desperate by the neces- 
sity which her own tyrant imposes on her, feeds her 
own Colonies, and receives their produce in her own 
ships. But if trade should unexpectedly be open- 
ed to us and excite our enterprize, the whole ma- 
chinery of commerce is so disordered, that years 
cannot restore it to its former activity. Old rela- 
tions and connexions have been dissolved and are 
to be renewed. The credit of our Merchants 
abroad is to be re-established, and the main spring of 
navigation to be restored. Our Mariners have been 
driven by want and distress into foreign service, 
and are now fighting the battles of other nations, 
to escape perhaps in an honourable death the inglo- 
rious servility and humiliating dependence of help- 
less poverty. All these evils are aggravated by the 
consideration that they have been but useless sac- 
rifices to a ruinous experiment, and that they are 
the result of measures as unavailing in their effect 
upon foreign nations as unequal in their operation 
on our own country. 

Such is the faint outline of the situation of this 
People, as described by themselves in their various 
petitions. It is the more painful, as it comes into 
contrast with the unparalleled prosperity which im- 
mediately preceded it under former Administra- 
tions, and which an observance of their policy would 
still have ensured to our country. 

The suspension of commerce, although the im- 
mediate cause of public distress, is also to be reg;>rd- 
ed as tiie effect of a departure from the system of 



Washington, and of hostility to those who pursued 
his politics and enjoyed his confidence. 

The limits ot this Address will not permit a mi- 
nute examination of the principles of the first Ad- 
n.inistrations, nor of a detailed comparison of them 
with those of the present. It is, however, undeni- 
able, thac the period of the two former Adminis- 
trations was the golden age of America ; and such 
was the impulse given to the public prosperity, that it 
continued to influence the first period of the present 
Administration, notwithstanding the errors and de- 
viations which were destined by a slow operation 
to reduce the nation to its present state. Yet it has 
not been perceived, that our present rulers have 
been called upon to encounter greater difficulties 
and embarassmcnts, ari>ing from the state of the 
world, than those by which their predecessors were 
encompassed. France violated our commercial 
rights, insulted our Government, and availed her- 
self of every art and intrigue to entangle us in an 
alliance with her ; but we escaped, and preserved 
our peace, our commerce, and our honour. The 
spoliations of Great-Britain on our commerce, ex- 
cited resentment in the public mind, and demanded 
redress, which was obtained by negociation, and our 
useful and lucrative connexion with that country 
was still maintained. 

Whatever are the motives which may be pre- 
sumed recently to influence the conduct of those re- 
spective nations towards the United States ; it is 
probable they were then of the same character and 
description as at present. The sympathy of the 
People in the French revolution was general and ar- 
dent ; their irritation against Great-Britain, fever- 
ish and violent ; yet under the pressure of these 
external circumstances, combined with rebellion in 
the heart of the country, without the benefit of 
example to guide, or experience to confirm its meas- 
ures, the New Government was enabled to nrrsorve 



iO 

peace at home, and with half its present resources^ 
to -prepare for war, and command re>pect abroad. 

By what fatahty has it then happened, that the 
prosperity of our country has experienced this fatal 
reverse ? 

A full and satisflictory reply to this inquiry would 
lead to a review of the whole history of our Govern- 
ment, from its commencement to the present time, 
and is therefore not to be expected in a brief Address. 
But a respectful attention to the complaints of the 
People requires that the principal causes should be 
at least suarsrested. 

The first of them is to be found m the love of 
power and the pride of system, which, united to the 
spirit of party, have been exerted to secure to one 
portion of the Union a controlling influence over 
the other. The People of the United States may be 
classed under three general descriptions ; the agri- 
cultural, the planting, and the mercantile interests. 
The first includes the Farmers of those States who 
cultivate their own lands by the hands of freemen. 
The second Comprises the Planters of the Southern 
States, who cultivate their lands by slaves. The last 
may be considered as including the Merchants, Sea- 
\nen. Mechanics, Manufacturers, and all who are 
connected with or dependent upon trade and com- 
merce. The interests of these three classes are nat- 
urally favourable to each other, and may be easily so 
combined by a wise Government as to be instrumen- 
tal in promoting the prosperity of all, and the greatest 
attainable degree of national llrength ; or they may 
be so severed by a weak and partial Adminiftratioi; 
as to render each a prey to jealousies, strife, and un- 
natural competitions, which will be equally ruinous 
to all. 

The mercantile class are the principal proprietors 
of the active capital of the country, and their welfarr- 
is inseparable from the success of commerce an«l 
navigation. 



n 

This class is proportionably the most numerousi 
in the Eastern States. And in these States, consid- 
ering them as one section of the country, the inter- 
ests of" the farmer and merchant are, from usage and 
ancient relation, as well as from the nature of things, 
so blended and connected, that the one has scarcely 
less advantage from the success of commerce and 
navigation than the other. This cannot be aflirnied 
with the same precision in regard to the planting in- 
tereft. To this class commerce is also essential, but 
it is of less importance whether their commerce be 
carried on by the navigation of their own, or ot a 
foreign country. A small proportion only of ships 
and vessels is owned by their merchants. On the 
contrary, an immense portion of the wealth of the 
Eaftern' section of the Union consists in shipping. 
For example, in the year 1 805, the aggregate tonnage 
of the United States was eleven hundred and forty 
thousand three hundred and sixty-eight tons ; ot 
which Massachusetts ov/ned four hundred twenty- 
five thousand nine hundred and forty-eight tons, in- 
cluding upwards of one fourth of the whole coasting 
vessels', more than one third of the whalemen, and 
nearly six sevenths of the cod-fishermen. No nation 
has ever prosecuted a successful navigation without 
the protection of a naval force ; but as such a force 
would naturally augment the strength and wealth of 
that part of the Union in which it ^hould be built 
and manned, it would be an easy task to inspire the 
planting interest with a jealour^y of such an estab- 
lishment, and to inculcate upon them a belief in the 
plausible though fallacious theory, that commerce, 
like agriculture, must protect itself. This jealousy 
once excited is naturally ripened iiito hostility, and 
extended to those men and States that are pnncipally 
CO cerncd in commerce. The farmer who lives in a 
commercial State, becomes at first the dupe of these 
prejudices, and deceived by the simihirity of names, 
hclicves his interest to be the yxr.v: v.-i;li the planrcr';.,. 



and lends his aid to weaken the commercial system. 
Thus the planting interest obtaining an ascendency 
iliroughout the Union, is enabled to aggrandize it- 
seU, and give laws to the nation. 

The great Washington, considering himself the 
father of the whole people, was incapable of giving 
countenance to the jealousies arising from these 
causes. He was the avowed friend of commerce, 
and the advocate for its protection by means of 
a navy. 

For the sake of commerce, he concluded a treaty 
with Great-Britain, amid the clamours of opposi- 
tion. He patronized Banks and monied institu^ 
lions, as indispensable" to the general welfare ; and 
felt that the interest of each class, and the power 
and wealth of each State were for the benefit of all. 
His successor adopted his system, and urged to the 
utmost of his power the provision for a naval estabv 
lishment. 

Far different has been the policy of the present 
Administration. Under it we have seen the spirit 
of party and of hostility to the interests of naviga- 
lion burn with redoubled ardor, and all attempts to 
protect them abandoned. The navy has been per- 
mitted to gro to decav, and the commercial treatv 
with England to expire. The New-England farmer 
has been wheedled into a belief that he has no greater 
interest in the success of navigation than a Virginia 
planter. The doctrine has been propagated, that the 
commerce which cannot protect itself is unworthy ot 
protection. That in time of peace, when no danger 
exists, it must be used as a source of revenue ; but in 
time of war it must be abandoned, and those engag- 
ed in it must betake themselves to other pursuits ; 
and finally, that it is not an object of protection, but 
an instrument of coercion. 

Ostentatious displays of the payment of the public 
debt have created a delusive popularity, which has 
led the Administration to presume upon their power 



IS 

to coerce tlie commercial States at their will and 
pleasure. They have proscribed and displaced all 
who would have dared to give them true informa- 
tion, and thus shut up the avenues to a just estimate 
ot the interests and feeUngs of this people. They 
have been deceived by men who were themselves 
either ignorant or deceived, and they have arrayed 
the people against each other in an attitude highly 
dishonourable to the nation, and menacingconsequen- 
ces at whicli every patriot citizen must tremble. 

Another capital defect in the present system, will 
be found in the total omission to estimate properly 
the danger and state of our foreign relations. 

There has been no period since the French revo- 
lution, that has not been pregnant with danger to 
the peace of this nation. Our colHsions with the 
belligerent powers have been incessant ; and we 
have been in several years repeatedly on the eve of 
a war with Spain. During the whole term of Mr. 
Jefferson's Administration, the revenue from com- 
merce, owing to the immense capital that had been 
accumulated under the auspices of his predecessors, 
was yearly augmented j yet the appropriations for 
national defence have been truly contemptible. 

Our harbours have been constantly exposed to 
the smallest naval armament. No establishments 
liave been made for naval or military instruc- 
tion ; no serious preparations for a state of war. 
Every important object has been sacrificed to the 
pretence of diminishing the public debt ; the me- 
rit of which is hardly a theme for exultation, 
when it is considered that the whole amount of 
the reduction of the debt, since Mr. Jefferson's 
Administration, is not equal to the additional reve- 
nue for the same time, beyond that of the preceding 
Administrations. This false economy and unv/arlike 
attitude has probably conduced to degrade us in the 
estimation of Europe, and expose us to outrage and 
insult. 



14 

Another and principal cause ojf our difliculties 
inay be found in the conduct of the Administration 
towards Great-Britain and France. It is certaijily 
the misfortune of the party in power, that their pro- 
fessions of strict impartiality towards the Belligerent 
Nations have been accompanied by language and 
conductwhich have prevented their being accredited. 

That a party existed in this country prior to the 
conclusion of the late war, which, either from a 
sense of gratitude or dependence, was disposed to 
overvalue the part taken by France in our Revolu- 
tion, is not to be denied. It is equally certain, that 
the present leading members of the ruling party 
were reputed to be the firm confidential friends of 
the French ministry, and advocates of their policy., 
It has also uniformly been stated, that these gentle- 
men, or their friends, at the close of the Revolution- 
ary War, did insist in Congress, conformably to the 
wishes and suggestions of the French cabinet, that 
neither the express acknowledgment of our inde- 
pendence by Great-Britain, nor our right to the 
fisheries, nor the possession of the Western Country, 
and the free navigation of the Missisippi, should be 
indispensable conditions in the proposed treaty of 
peace. It has also been uniform.ly stated, without con- 
tradiction, that these same persons were of the party 
which procured instructions to be given to our 
Minister appointed to negociate the treaty of peace, 
to act only with the consent and concurrence of the 
French cabinet in every article of the treaty ; and 
that Vi^hen our Ministers, Adams and Jay, in spite of 
the perfidious intrigues of Vergenncs, obtained from 
Great'Britain the recognition of our Independence, 
secured to us the fisheries which France demanded 
for herself, preserved a right to the navigation of 
the Missi.-ippi, and obtained a clear title to the West- 
ern Country, this same party endeavoured in Con- 
gress to procure a vote of censure against our Min- 



15 

isters for this exertion of patriotism and indepen- 
dence. 

In the year 1 794, this same party, under pretence 
of securing our rights, proposed a series of resolu- 
tions in Congress, founded on their favourite policy 
of coercing Britain by our commercial warfare, 
but which at that period would have inevitably 
involved us in a war with her, and in conse- 
quence an alliance with France, that would have 
made us a party in all the wars in which she has 
been since engaged, and sharers in the fate which 
has befallen all her allies. 

The same party opposed the mission of Mr. Jay 
to England, and violently condemned the treaty con- 
cluded by that Minister, which has so greatly con- 
duced to the unparalleled prosperity of this coun- 
try. And during the whole of the time that the 
American People were agitated by the first events 
of the French Revolution, and the cabals of the 
French Ministers, they were regarded by those Min- 
isters as friendly to France, and charged with hav- 
ing a language official and a language confidential. 

At a subsequent period, the same party in the As- 
sembly of Virginia, and other legislative bodies, as 
well as in Congress, opposed all defensive measures 
againstFrance, whose indiscriminate robberies threat- 
ened the extermination of our commerce, and whose 
indignities and outrages towards our public Minis- 
ters had awakened a sentiment of indignation in all 
impartial minds. 

1 he same party have permitted the British treaty 
to expire without attempting to renevv^ it, and have 
rejected another treaty, framed by their own confi- 
dential Ministers, which contained a subiitantial secu- 
rity for our claims to the rights of neutrals, and 
refused their assent to arrangements which would 
have obviated the inconveniences and injuries sus- 
tained by the impressment of our ."^ejimpr.. 



iO 



'the same party have refused to accept reparZLtior. 
from Great-Britain for the outrage conunitted on 
the Chesapeake, for reasons of mere punctiUo, and 
thus have preserved unnecessarily this ground of 
national animosity, and have fuially adopted the ru- 
inous system of Embargo, which is in substance the 
same that has been required by the French Empe- 
ror of his vassal nations, and has received his ex- 
plicit approbation in ofticial communications to his 
Senate. 

If these facts and circumstances were not sufficient 
to establish the conclusion, that the Administration 
have uniformly incUned to the views and policy of 
France ; their measures and their language, subse- 
quent to the late obnoxious decrees and orders ot 
both Belligerents, must remove all doubt upon this 
subject. 

The Legislature cannot now attempt an elaborate 
examination of the documents relative to the nego- 
ciation with these powers, which have been submit- 
ted to public inspection ; nor is it necessary to re- 
peat the inference, which will be found in the Re- 
ports and Memorial which they have adopted. 

Let it be conceded, to avoid argument, that the 
Administration have exerted all their skill and pow- 
er in sincere efforts to preserve our neutraUty, but 
that the mutual injustice of France and Great-Britain 
has at length compelled them to withdraw into a 
retirement, in which they mean not to remain, and 
whence they cannot emerge without becoming a 
party in the war ; what is the obvious policy, in 
the prospect and in the event of such an alternative, 
which might have been expected, and ought to have 
been foreseen ? Should they consume months and 
years in piteous moans at a fate too common to neu- 
tral nations, or in active preparations to meet it .? 
Should they content themselves with invectives and 
-omplaints and menaces against both Belligerents, or 



•17 

prepare ma2;azincs and fleets and armies to encoun= 
ter one of them ? 

That a nation sincerely desirous of neutrality 
should be forced into a war, is an event always to 
be deplored, but frequently to be expected. Under 
this misfortune it is a consolation to have the power 
of choosing the least formidable enemy, and a duty 
to make such an election. The situation of the 
United States and of the world should preclude all 
hesitation upon their policy, when circumstances 
shall compel them to an ultimate decision. 

That a war with Great-Britain would lead to an 
alliance with France, is beyond dispute ; and that 
this connexion must be forever fatal to the liberty 
and independence of the nation, is obvious to all who' 
are not blinded by partiality and passion. This 
consideration should be decisive with an American 
cabinet, admitting all our complaints of British vi- 
olence and injuries to be perfectly just. But to 
judge from the measures and language of the par- 
tizans of Administration, the reverse of this policy 
is contemplated, if war becomes unavoidable. The 
"whole system of commercial restrictionis now, with- 
out its original disguise, intended against Great- 
Britain. The warlike measures contemplated and 
proposed, though not yet adopted, are coupled with 
menaces against the British Colonies and commerce. 

The halls of Congress and other places, in which 
the Administration preserves a majority, resound 
with the fulminations of rage and reproach, and re- 
venge against Great-Britain and her Government, 
amid which the faint murmurs and occasional ex- 
clamations against French unkindness are lost al- 
most before they reach the ear. 

Of the motives to this conduct on the part of the 
National Government, this Legi-^lature can discern 
no satisfactory solution, but in an habitual and impol- 
itic predilection for France. Without pretending 
^o compare and adjust the respective injuries sus- 
C 



tained from llie tu'o nations, it caiinot be disguised*- 
that in some instances our nation has received from 
Great-liritain compensation, in others, offers of 
atonement, and in all, the language of conciliation 
and respect ; while from France,x)ur immense losses' 
are without retribution, and our remonstrances are 
neglected with contemptuous silence, or answered 
with aggravating insult. While hostiUty with Great- 
Britain would expose our country and our com- 
merce in every'vulnerable point, and afford no hope 
of honour or indemnity, a war with France would 
not be very diiTerent frcan the only state of peace 
which -^he is disposed to maintain. 

Under the>e eircum^tances^ can it be contended' 
that the policy is either just or wise, which wou]d 
dictate either open hostility against Great-Britain, 
or a series of irritating measures tending to that 
state ? 

Thus, fellow-citizens, has the Eegislature reluc- 
tantly presented you with a general view of the; 
causes which have reduced you to your present ca- 
lamitous state. But thece would have been insuf- 
ficient, if you, and the People of those States whose 
interests are similar toyour^'s, had remained vigilant 
for the common welfare. 

The present leading men in the Southern States, 
have beheld with jealousy your increasing prosperi- 
ty, and feel neither respect for your pursuits, nor 
sensibility for your sufferings ; yet it can hardly be 
suppo^ed, that they would willingly drive to ex- 
tremities a section of the country wliich they be- 
lieved to be a united people, who still regard them* 
with fraternal feelings, who claim only a fair atten- 
tion to their local habits and necessities, and who are 
willing in any just or necessary cause, to devote 
their lives and their fortunes to the common de- 
fence. They have been deceived. The spirit oi 
proscription, originating with the present Adminis- 
tration, Ijas almost wholly driven from the Nation- 



4tl Councils that description of men who are tlie 
natural Representatives of your true interests. 
Their places have been supplied by those who were 
disposed to liatter the ruling party, and promote 
their inea->ures and policy. The same spirit of po- 
litical persecution was introduced into the State 
Governments, and at length in this State openly- 
avowed and displayed in a written treatise, by the 
present Chief Magistrate. '1 he novel doctrine of 
excluding from power and offi.ce all v/ho differed in 
any article of political faith from the great head of 
the nation, soon became current. The people were 
dazzled with the delusive glitter of a full treasury, 
and deafened by clamours excited against those who 
iirst provided the means of filling it. Their confi- 
dence was v/ithdrawn from their old and tried 
friends ; and the politicians of the South were en- 
couraged to hope, by your own Representatives, 
that if your unanimity did not ensure the popularity 
of their measures, your divisions would prevent 
their defeat. Thence their apparent union and en- 
thusiasm in favour of a system which appears to youi 
little fhort of infatuation. Hence their belief that 
you will acquiesce in a sacrifice of your vital inter- 
ests, without. 2. perception of neceasity, and plunge 
into war with a certainty of ruin. 

If for these evils it was in the power of the Legis- 
lature to devise any temporary remedy, you arc 
sensible that a concurrence from the present Execu- 
tive Magistrate of the Commonv/ealth could not be 
expected. But as the malady is deep, you will still 
be deceived by trusting to any momentary relief. 
You must realize and comprehend the nature of 
your peculiar interests, and by steady, persevering- 
and well-concerted efforts, rise into an attitude to 
promote and preserve them. The farmer must re- 
jnember that his prosperity is inseparable fiom tliat 
of the merchant, and that there is Uttie allinity be- 
.twccn his condition and habits andthosc of a southern 



20 

planter. The interests of New-England must be de- 
fined, understood, and fn ndy represented, A perfect 
intelligence inu^t be cultivated among those States, 
and a united effort must be made and coniii:ued to 
acquire their just influence in the Natitmal Govern- 
ment. For this purpose the Constitution should be 
amended, and the provision which gives to holders 
of slaves a representation equal to that of bO(),()00 
free citizens, should be abolished. Experience proves 
the injustice, and time will increase the inequality of 
this principle, the original reason for which has 
entirely failed. 

Other amendments to secure commere and navi- 
gation from a repetition of destructive and insidious 
theories, are indispensable. 

Towards effecting these salutary reforms, or any- 
other which experience may prove to be fair and 
necessary for the prosperity of the commercial States, 
the restoration of full and entire confidence to those 
who feel tlieir necessity, and arc anxious to promote 
them, is the first dictate of wisdom. The Legislature 
are aware that their measures and sentiments will 
encourage their opponents in propagating the foul 
imputation of a design to dismember the Union. But 
•when did party malice want a theme to excite pop- 
ular prejudice ? When did it have recourse to one 
more absurd and unfounded ? Why should those by 
whose instrumentality the confederacy was formed, 
be bent on the destruction of their own work ? Why 
should the disciples of Washington forget the maxims 
of hU government, and the precepts of his school ? If 
the dissolution of the Union would be an evil, have the 
objects of this calumny less at stake than its authors ? 
Tho^e men and their adherents, who now point out 
the detects which experience has displayed in the 
present policy and Constitution are those who invited 
the public attention to the deficiency of the old Con- 
federation. It was at that time their object to 
Strengthen the Union 5 it is not less their object ^t 



ihis time. But as the Union itself , originated in a 
spirit of compromise, the Administration of the gov» 
eriiment should be influenced by the same spirit. If 
the Southern States are disposed to avail them>^elves 
of the advantages resulting from our strength and 
resources for common defence, they must be willing 
to patronize the interests of navigation and com- 
merce, without which oar strength will be weak- 
ness. If they wish to appropriate a jportion of the 
public revenue towards roads, canals, or for the 
purchase of arms and the improvement of their mi- 
litia, they mu^t consent that you, who purchase your 
own arms, and have already roads, canals and militia, 
in most excellent order, shall have another portion 
of it devoted to a naval protection- If they, in the 
spirit of chivalry, are ready to rush into an unneces- 
sary and ruinous war with one nation, they must 
suffer you to pause before you bid an eternal adieu 
to your independence by an alliance with ai^other. 

There is not a greater diversity of interests be- 
tween them and yourselves than will be found in the 
distant provinces of all great empires ; none, indeed, 
that a truly national administration cannot reconcile. 
It is believed too, that many of your southern breth- 
ren accord with you in their estimate of the true in- 
terests of their country, and are inclined magnani- 
mously to sacrifice local prejudices to national safety 
and honour. 'I his happy result may be expected, 
whenNew-Englandyfaithful to her true interests, shall 
speak with one voice, and exclude from her councils 
those, who from misapprehension of those interests, 
or any other cause, are advocates for the present de- 
structive system. Then, and not till that time, will 
a temper of mutual accommodation begin to display 
itself in the measures of government, and a steady, 
dicniitied conduct shield the nation from foreiirn and 
domestic dangers. The Congress ot the United 
States will no longer be the theatre of base conten- 
tion and sanguinary threats. The spirit of private 



22 

(»ombat will no longer be the test of public spirit, and 
the denunciation 6 of vanity and inexperience will 
cease to be vented against powerful members of the 
common Union. 

It would indeed be a grateful occupation to the 
l,egislature to apply an immediate remedy to the 
evils of which the Petitioners complain and which wc 
fear will be aggravated by a continuance of the ex- 
isting commercial restrictions, or substitutes not less 
oppressive and fatal, though veiled under new titles. 
But they are compelled to avow that it is with the 
People themselves that every efficient pUn of redress 
must originate. While the advocates for British 
war and the contemners of commerce can calculate 
upon your divisions, they will advmce in their mad 
and presumptuons course, and rely upon your 
Governors and your Representatives to neutralize 
your opposition to their measures. But when they 
perceive that you are prepared to break the chains 
imposed by a fatal and mistaken policy, and that all 
the constituted authorities of New En!J:land are uni- 
ted in sentiment and purpose ; when they are sensible 
that you are able to resist, and that self-preservation 
will make resistance a duty, they will reflect upon 
your claims, and yield to the ju>tice of your preten- 
tions. They will feel that the confederation is in- 
tended for the general welfare, and that it is only 
by paying some regard to this object, we can main- 
tain that union which common interest should make 
perpetual. 

On the contrary, nothing less than a perfect union 
-and intelligence among the Eastern States can pre- 
serve to them any share of influence in the Nation- 
al Government. Without influence they can ex- 
pect no regard to their interest, but are exposed to 
the effects of a policy, whose object will be to secure 
power and office, with a view to local and per.-ional 
aggrandizement, and to make them Colonial Govern- 



iiients, subject to the worst form of domination, tliat 
of one member of a confederacy over another. 

Ihe present state of our connexion is not far 
from this condition. The late election of Rep- 
resentatives /to Congress, and the votes for Pres- 
ident, plainly demonstrate the disapprobation of 
the present system by a great majority of the 
Eastern people. Mr. Madison, who was known 
to favour it, had not a vote in those States, ex- 
cept in Vermont ; and recent elections there af- 
ford evidence that at this moment he would have 
none. On the other hand, in the Southern States, 
from the artificial popularity of this fatal system, his 
majority has been triumphant. 

The same division is apparent in Congress. The 
known wishes of the Eastern States have been rot 
merely neglected, but rejected with threatenings 
and contempt. 

Politicians of yesterday, from the back woods and 
mountains, vie with each other in the language of 
insult and defiance, and the men whom you delight 
to honor, and the great majority of those who have 
the deepest interests at stake, in the welfare of the 
country, are stigmatized as a corrupt and seditious part 
of the community. Even when those of your own 
Representatives, who have encouraged this presump- 
tuous conduct by their own countenance, discover- 
ing their errors, are desirous to recede, repentance 
comes too late. Thus, under new names, and with 
the same views, the Embargo system is still riveted 
upon our unhappy country, in spite of the opposi- 
tion of some of those who appear too late desirous 
of retrieving their constituents from ruin. Thus a 
Bill has already passed one branch of the Legislature;, 
authorizing Letters of Marque and Reprisal ; a meas- 
ure calculated either to provoke an open war with 
Great-Britain, or to protract the irritation and con- 
troversies subsisting between us. Choose, then, fel- 



$/f. 



Ibw-citlzens, between the condition of citizens of a 
free State, possessing its equal weight and influence 
in the National Governihent ; or that of a Colony, 
free in name, but in fact enslaved by sister States. 



In Senate, March i, 1809, 

)ft.ead and accepted. 

Sent down for concurrence. 

HARRISON G. OTIS, President, 

In the House or Rbpre8entative5, March a, T809. 

Read and concurred. 

TIMOTHY BIGELOW, Speaker. 



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